Project description:ObjectiveThis article presents the novel BioASQ Synergy research process which aims to facilitate the interaction between biomedical experts and automated question-answering systems.Materials and methodsThe proposed research allows systems to provide answers to emerging questions, which in turn are assessed by experts. The assessment of the experts is fed back to the systems, together with new questions. With this iteration, we aim to facilitate the incremental understanding of a developing problem and contribute to solution discovery.ResultsThe results suggest that the proposed approach can assist researchers to navigate available resources. The experts seem to be very satisfied with the quality of the ideal answers provided by the systems, suggesting that such systems are already useful in answering open research questions.DiscussionBioASQ Synergy aspires to provide a tool that gives the experts easy and personalized access to the latest findings in a fast-growing corpus of material.ConclusionIn this article, we envisioned BioASQ Synergy as a continuous dialogue between experts and systems to issue open questions. We ran an initial proof-of-concept of the approach, in order to evaluate its usefulness, both from the side of the experts, as well as from the side of the participating systems.
Project description:In preparing for influenza pandemics, public health agencies stockpile critical medical resources. Determining appropriate quantities and locations for such resources can be challenging, given the considerable uncertainty in the timing and severity of future pandemics. We introduce a method for optimizing stockpiles of mechanical ventilators, which are critical for treating hospitalized influenza patients in respiratory failure. As a case study, we consider the US state of Texas during mild, moderate, and severe pandemics. Optimal allocations prioritize local over central storage, even though the latter can be deployed adaptively, on the basis of real-time needs. This prioritization stems from high geographic correlations and the slightly lower treatment success assumed for centrally stockpiled ventilators. We developed our model and analysis in collaboration with academic researchers and a state public health agency and incorporated it into a Web-based decision-support tool for pandemic preparedness and response.
Project description:IntroductionHealth professionals in oncologic and palliative care settings are often faced with the problem that patients stop eating and drinking. While the causes of food refusal are very different, the result is often malnutrition, which is linked to health comorbidities and a high mortality rate. However, the professionals lack the time and knowledge to clarify the cause for each patient. What associations do health professionals have when faced with food refusal?ObjectiveTo investigate the associations that health professionals in oncological and palliative settings have about denied eating behavior.MethodsA cross-sectional study, starting with an open question focusing professionals' associations regarding food refusal. The results were inductively analyzed, whereby generic categories were developed. Subsequently, the categories were transformed into quantitative data to calculate the relationships between the categories.ResultsA total of 350 out of 2000 participants completed the survey, resulting in a response rate of 17.5%. Food refusal is primarily associated with physical and ethical aspects and with end-of-life. Half of the participants frequently find that patients refuse to eat. The attitudes show that the autonomy of the patient is the highest good and is to be respected. Even in the case of patients with limited decision-making capacity, the refusal to eat is acceptable.ConclusionClarifying the cause of food refusal requires a great deal of knowledge and is strongly influenced by the associations of health professionals. While the associations have very negative connotations, information and training is needed to make professionals aware of this and to change their associations. With this knowledge and in an interprofessional cooperation, mis-labelling of patient settings can be avoided and fears can be reduced.
Project description:ObjectiveWisdom has gained increasing interest among researchers as a personality trait relevant to well-being and mental health. We previously reported development of a new 24-item San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE), with good to excellent psychometric properties, comprised of six subscales: pro-social behaviors, emotional regulation, self-reflection (insight), tolerance for divergent values (acceptance of uncertainty), decisiveness, and social advising. There is controversy about whether spirituality is a marker of wisdom. The present cross-sectional study sought to address that question by developing a new SD-WISE subscale of spirituality and examining its associations with various relevant measures.MethodsData were collected from a national-level sample of 1,786 community-dwelling adults age 20-82 years, as part of an Amazon M-Turk cohort. Participants completed the 24-item SD-WISE along with several subscales of a commonly used Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality, along with validated scales for well-being, resilience, happiness, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social network.ResultsUsing latent variable models, we developed a Spirituality subscale, which demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties including a unidimensional factor structure and good reliability. Spirituality correlated positively with age and was higher in women than in men. The expanded 28-item, 7-subscale SD-WISE total score (called the Jeste-Thomas Wisdom Index or JTWI) demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties. The Spirituality subscale was positively correlated with good mental health and well-being, and negatively correlated with poor mental health. However, compared to other components of wisdom, the Spirituality factor showed weaker (i.e., small-to-medium vs. medium-to-large) association with the SD-WISE higher-order Wisdom factor (JTWI).ConclusionSimilar to other components as well as overall wisdom, spirituality is significantly associated with better mental health and well-being, and may add to the predictive utility of the total wisdom score. Spirituality is, however, a weaker contributor to overall wisdom than components like pro-social behaviors and emotional regulation. Longitudinal studies of larger and more diverse samples are needed to explore mediation effects of these constructs on well-being and health.
Project description:Conrad et al. Nature 456, 344–349 (2008) have generated human adult germline stem cells (haGSCs) from human testicular tissue, which they claim have similar pluripotent properties to human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Here we investigate the pluripotency of haGSCs by using global gene-expression analysis based on their gene array data and comparing the expression of pluripotency marker genes in haGSCs and hESCs, and in haGSCs and human fibroblast samples derived from different laboratories, including our own. We find that haGSCs and fibroblasts have a similar gene-expression profile, but that haGSCs and hESCs do not. The pluripotency of Conrad and colleagues’ haGSCs is therefore called into question.
Project description:This study investigated the association between personality traits and food stockpiling for disasters in predicted high-risk areas of food shortages due to the Nankai Trough Earthquake. This survey was conducted between December 18 and 20, 2019, using a web-based questionnaire. The participants were 1,200 individuals registered with an online survey company. This study analyzed the association between the Big Five personality traits and food stockpiling status (n = 1192). The Big Five personality traits assess five basic dimensions of personality (i.e., extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness). To measure theses personality traits, we used the Japanese version of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI-J). The Mann-Whitney test and a multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that none of the Big Five personality traits were significantly associated with having or not having stockpile food. However, interestingly, considering the stages of behavior change regarding stockpiling, high extraversion was significantly positively related to initiating stockpiling. Moreover, high neuroticism was significantly positively related to interrupted stockpiling. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on personality traits (especially low extraversion and high neuroticism) to promote food stockpiling for disasters.
Project description:Objective Measurement of Wisdom within a short period of time is vital for both the public interest (e.g., understanding a presidential election) and research (e.g., testing factors that facilitate wisdom development). A measurement of emotion associated with wisdom would be especially informative; therefore, a novel Thin-Slice measurement of wisdom was developed based on the Berlin Paradigm. For about 2 min, participants imagined the lens of a camera as the eyes of their friend/teacher whom they advised about a life dilemma. Verbal response and facial expression were both recorded by a camera: verbal responses were then rated on both the Berlin Wisdom criteria and newly developed Chinese wisdom criteria; facial expressions were analyzed by the software iMotion FACET module. Results showed acceptable inter-rater and inter-item reliability for this novel paradigm. Moreover, both wisdom ratings were not significantly correlated with Social desirability, and the Berlin wisdom rating was significantly negatively correlated with Neuroticism; feeling of surprise was significantly positively correlated with both wisdom criteria ratings. Our results provide the first evidence of this Thin-slice Wisdom Paradigm's reliability, its immunity to social desirability, and its validity for assessing candidates' wisdom within a short timeframe. Although still awaiting further development, this novel Paradigm contributes to an emerging Universal Wisdom Paradigm applicable across cultures.
Project description:Theories in favor of deliberative democracy are based on the premise that social information processing can improve group beliefs. While research on the "wisdom of crowds" has found that information exchange can increase belief accuracy on noncontroversial factual matters, theories of political polarization imply that groups will become more extreme-and less accurate-when beliefs are motivated by partisan political bias. A primary concern is that partisan biases are associated not only with more extreme beliefs, but also with a diminished response to social information. While bipartisan networks containing both Democrats and Republicans are expected to promote accurate belief formation, politically homogeneous networks are expected to amplify partisan bias and reduce belief accuracy. To test whether the wisdom of crowds is robust to partisan bias, we conducted two web-based experiments in which individuals answered factual questions known to elicit partisan bias before and after observing the estimates of peers in a politically homogeneous social network. In contrast to polarization theories, we found that social information exchange in homogeneous networks not only increased accuracy but also reduced polarization. Our results help generalize collective intelligence research to political domains.
Project description:Background and objectivesMost people agree that cognitive capabilities are an integral component of wisdom and its development. However, a question that has received less attention is whether people view maintaining cognitive capabilities as a necessary prerequisite for maintaining wisdom.Research design and methodsThis study used a mixed-methods approach to evaluate people's views about the relationship between age-related cognitive declines, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and wisdom. Our final sample of 1,519 adults ranged in age from 18 to 86.ResultsThe majority of participants stated that wisdom could be present even in people with significant age-related cognitive declines or with AD. In the qualitative responses, common justifications for this were (a) that even people with severe AD can still exhibit wise behaviors during lucid moments, (b) that wisdom is an immutable characteristic that is impossible to lose, and (c) that wisdom maintenance and cognitive capability maintenance are separate constructs.Discussion and implicationsAlthough prior research has examined implicit theories about the role of cognition in the development of wisdom, this is the first study to examine implicit theories about whether cognitive declines lead to wisdom declines. The results suggest that most people hold essentialist beliefs about wisdom, viewing it as a fixed and unchangeable trait rather than as a malleable skill.